In this season of picnics, we have the indoor one called Communion. In this season of vacation, we ge a deep sense that God never takes a vacaton from us. Gail Ramshaw just wrote "what we need of heaven is here among us."

 

John insists that when we partake of Jesus, we get what we need to live:physically or spiritually. Recall that tradition had said that God's teaching was our very bread of life. This is part of the sense of the true bread from heaven, superior even to the miraculous manna. It offers a felt sense of abundance, of having more than enough. Anxiety pushes us toward distrusting enough; it pushes us to always want more. The people who have just had a miracle banquet from bread and fish want more. When we accept Jesus into our very being in Communion, we also are to absorb his teaching, his very life, along with a death that  brought us communion with divine sacrificial love. Just as the bread and cup become part of our body, so too does the living presence of Jesus Christ penetrate into every dimension of our lives.

 

Yes, Communion is an intensely spiritual experience. Yet, its very essence points toward the keeping together of body and soul. Miraculous manna fed the people. Spiritual life for us requires the body in this world. It does no good to try to flee from it or rise above its demands. Both of our sacraments are tactile, physical experience of a sensed spiritual reality. One of the constant arguments in seminary was from folks who said that the spirit moves us to speak, so they did not need to prepare a sermon for class. I think that part of their trouble was a dislike for the physical act of writing in longhand or typing. Church life would be much easier if we were disembodied spirits. Instead we are embodied beings, incarnate souls, if you will. spiritual life is keepiong body and soul in harmony..

 

Sin is the opposite of the possibility and presence of Communion. Repentance is being re-oriented toward Communion, toward life together. Nathan's story becomes the  bread of life for David's moral sense. Instead of offering blessing, sin offers curse. Repentance is the turn away from curse.That is part of the reason Paul enjoins us to examine our conscience before Communion. We don't receive this as a right, or even a privilige. It is a sign of pure gift from God, just as salvation is for all of us.  Communion moves us toward life together again. Sin pushes us to see people as things, as numbers, as means toward an end. Blessing requires respect. It means respect for people's needsw and pain, as well as our abundant gifts. Maybe it can even open us up enough to feel the pain of others, or to at least sympathize with it more fully. David moves from seeing life as disposable toward respecting it as precious. Communion opens our eyes to precious gifts.

 

What we call the words of institution start with taking, a physical act, and then blessing.We live under the shadow of death too much. We live under muttered curses too often. Sin prevents us from wishing each other well. We may even engage in self-defeating behaviors as we think we do not deserve the good that could come our way. Think of Communion this morning as a shared blessing. Last week, we quoted Ephesians about being rooted and grounded in live. Communion is a sacrament of that very phrase. Think of Communion as ingesting a blessing this morning. Think of it as allowing you to share blessings. It moves us to see it as thoroughy mixed in with the stuff of our lives.